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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29862450">Call It What You Want</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphasarrows/pseuds/alphasarrows'>alphasarrows</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Riverdale (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU: no murder, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betty &amp; Jughead are besties, Betty Cooper-centric, Betty's family is crazy, Charles is a good guy, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fred is very much alive and well, Slow Burn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:54:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,954</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29862450</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphasarrows/pseuds/alphasarrows</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Betty Cooper's family life has always been crazy, but now that her sister is pregnant again and her older brother is going through a horrible break up just as her best friend is moving out to go to Prep school, she's had enough. Luckily, Archie has the perfect plan to help her.</p><p>Or: Betty and Archie start fake dating to keep her family off her back</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alice Cooper/FP Jones II, Archie Andrews &amp; Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper &amp; Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Jason Blossom/Polly Cooper, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Veronica Lodge/Reggie Mantle, past Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge - Relationship, past Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Call It What You Want</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have read this looking for any mistakes a few times, so if there still are some, I'm really sorry.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You can't do this to me, Jug," Betty pouts, <em>again</em>. He chuckles and stuffs yet another S t-shirt into his duffle bag.  <br/>"You said it yourself, Betts, this is the chance of a lifetime. What happened to 'I'm gonna murder you if you don't go'?" Betty sighs. Jughead is right. The literary society at Stonewall Prep is perfect for young writers like himself and even long after their break up during the civil war in Riverdale, Betty is his fiercest supporter. "I know. It's just...", sobbing in the room next to hers cuts her off, "...Polly."<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>"Hey, you'll be fine, Cooper. You still have your Mom, my Dad and Jellybean as functional family members," Jughead says, moving to stand in front of Betty and grabs her shoulders. "Did you just call my mother functional?"He chuckles again and rolls his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>"My point is that you don't <em>need</em> me to protect you from your own family. And if it gets too bad, I'm sure there are a lot of people who'll happily let you stay with them."<br/>"Like who?" <br/>"Oh, I don't know, maybe your Dad, Kevin, a certain raven-haired princess... and if I'm not mistaken, there's this huge, muscly redhead next door who's always willing to help <em>you</em>," Jughead specifies, playfully emphasizing the 'you', which makes Betty shove his hands away from her shoulders. "How many times are we gonna play this game? Archie and I are <em>friends</em>." Jughead raises his eyebrow at her and Betty shoves him away even farther.   <br/>"Okay, okay, sorry."</p><p> </p><p>He takes a look at the clock on the bedroom wall. "I better get going if I wanna be there before evening." Betty nods and walks past him to open her door. She holds out her hand and smiles. "Time to show those preppies how to write, don't you think?"<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br/></span>"We don't have to say goodbye right here, right now."<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>"Um, yeah, we do," Betty whispers, nodding her head to Polly's door. "I'm not very keen on facing her breakdown over you leaving." Slapping a hand over his mouth to suppress his laughter, he pulls her in for a tight hug.  <br/>"I'm gonna miss you, Betty."<span class="Apple-converted-space">   <br/></span>"I'm gonna miss you too, Jug."<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>After pulling away from the hug, Betty makes a leap for her bedroom and shuts the door just in time to hear Polly tackle Jughead in the hall to say her tearful goodbye.</p><p> </p><p>Maybe it's because Betty missed so much of Polly's first pregnancy, but she doesn't remember her being so emotional. The first weeks after finding out it had been kind of endearing to see her sister tear up over the tiniest things, but now, two months in, it had gotten unbearable.  </p><p> </p><p>Hearing the engine of motorcycles roar, Betty makes her way over to her window, just in time to catch a glimpse of FP and Jughead driving off. She sighs and rests her head on the glass, facing the floor.  </p><p><br/><br/>Having Jughead around had made things so much easier these past few months. Their families both had threatened to fall apart, but at least they had had each other. Her parents' divorce had been a full on war, with neither of them wanting to back down and when Jughead's mom came to town to take over the almost dormant drug trade and to win FP back, things had gotten even worse, but eventually things had quieted down, Polly moved back home, her Dad budged and agreed to her Mom's terms, Gladys left after getting her whole family in danger and her Mom and FP got back together. Through all those changes, Jughead had always been by her side, a surprising presence after their horrible break up only a mere year before. They hadn't even been on <em>speaking terms</em> when all the trouble started, but some things you can't go through together without ending up being very close again and apparently drug-making Moms and custody battles were some of those things.  </p><p> </p><p>The buzzing of her phone pulls Betty out of her thoughts again. She turns around to see that she's got a message from Archie.</p><p> </p><p>Sunday, 4:30pm</p><p>Archie: He's gone, huh?</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly feeling watched, Betty turns back around to face her window and there he is. Her best friend, waving to her, a comforting smile on his lips. Her phone buzzes again.</p><p> </p><p>Sunday, 4:32pm</p><p>Archie: U ok?</p><p> </p><p>Sighing, Betty shoves her phone into her back pocket and shakes her head. She can't lie to Archie, never could.</p><p> </p><p>The way she loves Jughead changed a lot in the past year - from romantically to brotherly - but she'd swear she loves him even more now than when they were together and him leaving takes a much bigger toll on her than she'd feel comfortable admitting.</p><p> </p><p>Betty can see Archie reach for his phone again and dial something. He nods over to her and Betty pulls her phone out of her pocket in time to see him calling. Smiling, she accepts. "Hey." Just hearing Archie's voice makes her crumble and the tears she didn't know were welling up in her eyes start falling. "Hey," she sniffles, not daring to look up. He doesn't need to see her cry. "Betty, come on, look at me." She shakes her head. "Do you want me to come over? Because I can." Betty wants to say no, she really wants, but her body betrays her and she nods instead. "Okay. I'll be right over."  </p><p> </p><p>With that, Archie hangs up on her and a minute later, the doorbell rings. Betty nervously opens her bedroom door and hears her Mom talking to Archie downstairs. "Oh, hello, Archie. Jughead already left, I'm sorry."<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>"I know, Mrs Cooper, I'm here for Betty." Betty cringes, knowing the exact way her mom must be looking Archie up and down right now. "Why don't you stay for dinner then, I forgot that Jughead was leaving today so I made too much and I'm sure Betty would be <em>really</em> happy about it."</p><p> </p><p>Polly, having heard the commotion downstairs, comes out of her room, her nose all red and her eyes puffy. "How come you didn't tell me you were dating Archie?"<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>Betty blushes deeply. "Because I'm not, Polls," she sighs, feeling defeated. This family is going to destroy her sanity one day."You're not, what," Archie, who just got up the stairs, asks curiously.<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>"Dating you, apparently," Polly answers before Betty can stop her. If her sister wasn't pregnant and an emotional train wreck, Betty would very much like to slap her before digging a grave for herself.</p><p> </p><p>Without giving Polly so much as a look, Betty turns around and walk back into her room, slamming her door shut, but Archie squeezes through with almost too much ease for someone built <em>like that</em>. Betty sits down on her bed, facing away from her best friend.</p><p> </p><p>"Your family thinks we're dating, huh?"<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>"Please don't make things worse, Arch." He chuckles and walks around her room to sit down next to her.<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>"How would I do that?" <br/>"For starters, by staying for dinner. Mom's gonna take that as confirmation that we are."Archie pouts, making Betty laugh. "But I love your Mom's food." He pauses for a moment. "And besides, when would we have started dating anyways? There wasn't exactly time for that." <br/>"Trust me, they wouldn't care. God, they're driving me insane." Archie reaches for her hand on top of the bedsheets and touches one of his fingers to it gently. Betty sucks in a quiet breath.</p><p> </p><p>"Is there anything I can do to help?"  <br/>"That's nice, Arch, but I doubt it. When I was still with Jug they at least stayed off my back a little bit and I had an excuse to leave the house, but now... I don't have a boyfriend and Jug is gone..." <br/>"Maybe I can help with your boyfriend problem." <br/>Betty scoffs. "And how? Are you going to set me up with someone? Some football dude? One of your Juvie friends? Thanks, Archie, but no. They're so not my type."</p><p> </p><p>"I meant me. We can just pretend."<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>"<em>What</em>?"<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>Archie chuckles at her dumbstruck expression. "Think about it, Betty. Your family already thinks we're dating and if we're being honest, would <em>anyone</em> in this town be surprised?"</p><p> </p><p>Betty Cooper and Archie Andrews suddenly dating in Senior year? It doesn't sound like something completely out of this world and there are people in this town who have been waiting for that to happen for years (namely, Kevin), but Betty can't fake-date <em>Archie</em> of all people. Not with that unspoken thing between them that has been brewing their whole lives. Not when she's wanted the real thing since she was <em>eight years old</em>. Not when there's still the marriage promise that is supposed to be fulfilled within the next year. They have too much history to just <em>pretend</em>. But then again, that history is precisely what's gonna make it believable to everyone. No one would doubt it. Especially not her family because of course they know that Betty has been in love with Archie for the better part of her life. And if she says no, it would basically be a confession and after what happened last time... Betty would rather not go through <em>that</em> again.</p><p> </p><p>"Earth to Betty?" Looking over at Archie again, she makes a decision. Probably a stupid one that she will regret, but at this point there aren't a lot of things Betty <em>wouldn't</em> try to protect her sanity. "Oh, um, sorry, I was just thinking. I'm willing to try just about anything right now. I'm in."Archie smiles brightly at her, gets up and holds out his hand.</p><p> </p><p>"So, I guess you're my girlfriend now." Betty takes his hand and giggles at the absurdity of it all. "Does that mean I get to stay for dinner and have as many bowls of your Mom's pasta as I want? Because I think I should be getting something out of this too," he teases.<span class="Apple-converted-space">  <br/></span>"Oh, so you're only dating me to get pasta?" Getting up from her bed, Betty rolls her eyes and intertwines her hand with Archie's properly.</p><p> </p><p>"Lets go downstairs. I'm sure Mom could use some help with dinner preparations. And I have to introduce my <em>boyfriend</em> to everyone." He laughs at the way she emphasizes the word boyfriend and pulls her with him to open the door. "I don't think you still have to <em>introduce</em> me to anyone in this house."</p><p> </p><p>Betty laughs quietly but it dies in her throat when Archie turns around and gives her that <em>smile</em>. The one she likes to think is reserved for her only, the one with teeth that makes his eyes sparkle. This was a dumb idea, she tells herself over and over again on the way past Polly's bedroom. Archie stops right at the stairs and turns around to face her again and Betty <em>hates</em> the way it makes her stomach flutter.</p><p> </p><p>"We should probably talk about how we're gonna do this. I mean, we could just walk into the kitchen holding hands, but maybe we should -" he gets cut off when Polly comes out of her room, her eyes flying to their intertwined hands. A triumphant look appears in her eyes. "I knew it! I knew it! You were always a horrible liar, Betty." Placing her hand on her belly, she gives them a long look, quietly laughing to herself. Betty sighs. At least she didn't start crying, she thinks.</p><p> </p><p>Archie leans down, his lips dangerously close to her ear, catching Betty so off guard she can't even glare at Polly for still laughing at her. "So much for 'introducing your boyfriend to everyone'." This idea is gonna be the death of her. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm going to try to update this as regularly as possible and I should be able to write a lot in the next few weeks, but no promises ;)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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